Sony Ericsson isn't expecting any launch delay for its Xperia X10 Android-based smartphone in China despite Android-developer Google's threat to pull out of the market.
On Tuesday Google postponed the launch of two Android-based phones, one from Samsung and one from Motorola, due to the ongoing discussions between the company and Chinese authorities. The phones had been due to go on sale on Wednesday through China Unicom.
"We don't expect any delay based on that situation," said Bert Nordberg, president of Sony Ericsson, at a Tokyo news conference. "We expect to launch simultaneously in the whole world including China."
The only exception would be in Japan where the phone will debut slightly earlier in April, said Nordberg.
Google's spat with China began earlier this month when it said it could pull out of the Chinese market after hacking attempts on its systems that had originated in the country. It has also stopped censoring its search results -- a move that could see it thrown out of the country for failing to comply with local laws.
"If you look at the dispute it's between Google services and China, not Android and China," said Nordberg. "Android is an operating system."
Telecom analysts say a withdraw from China by Google could however hurt Android because it closely integrates several Google services including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search by Voice and Google Talk. If Google is prohibited from offering its services in China then the applications would not be available on phones there.